A brilliant discussion. So many opinions. Just what pprune should be about.
Yes Amos this is for real. Very real.
What hasn't been mentioned here much is the lawyers rather than the accountants. As I see it as PIC, is that every time you remove automatics without reason, on a revenue flight, just to 'practice' your skills, you leave yourself wide open to criticism/blame.
If something does go wrong, even just an FDM event, you have to be able to justify removing a layer of safety. How do you answer, when the insurance lawyer asks you why you went against the manufacturer, and airlines advice to use the automation as much as possible? It seems to be in all FCOMS and OMs I have seen.
Fatigue/tiredness is the biggest problem today in airlines. They know it, hence the instruction to maximise automation. It's not ideal, but it's what we have to live with.
The simulator should be used to practice for line flying, not the other way around!